You call, we haul: 41st Transportation Battalion helps DCRF mission

Saturday

May 19, 2012 at 12:01 AMMay 19, 2012 at 6:22 PM

The sun was just coming up from behind the mountain and there was a cold breeze blowing across the lot. The first two vehicles to pull in were also the largest of the group.?The 41st Transportation Company, 88th Base Support Battalion from Fort Polk, plays an integral part of the 2nd CBRN Battalion’s Defense CBRNE Response Force (DCRF).

Sgt. James Hale

The sun was just coming up from behind the mountain and there was a cold breeze blowing across the lot. The first two vehicles to pull in were also the largest of the group.?The 41st Transportation Company, 88th Base Support Battalion from Fort Polk, plays an integral part of the 2nd CBRN Battalion’s Defense CBRNE Response Force (DCRF). The 2nd CBRN’s portion of the DCRF is made up of more than 800 Soldiers in 16 supporting units from six different military installations across the country who can respond to any U.S. CBRNE incident to prevent the loss of American lives.?The 41st supports the mission by transporting large equipment, fuel, food, supplies and personnel.?“Today we were able to roll in, position the vehicles, drop the equipment off and move out of the way so the chemical guys could complete their mission,” said Sgt. Emmanuel Bonilla, a heavy wheeled vehicle operator with the 41st. “Once they finished, we came in and picked up the containers and rolled back to post having safely completed our mission.”?As Army chemical units trained for the DCRF mission at the Yakima Training Center (YTC) one of the scenarios they encountered was a chemical contamination in Yakima, Wash. The 41st transported three 20 foot metal shipping containers that stored equipment needed for the chemical units to contain the hazard and medical personnel to treat casualties. ?Two M1075A1 Palletized Loading Systems (PLS), carrying the three containers, accompanied the first group of military vehicles to Yakima Fairgrounds where the training took place.?Taking less than 20 minutes, Bonilla and Staff Sgt. Allen quickly guided their vehicles into position and unloaded the three containers so the chemical soldiers could immediately start setting up their decontamination site.?After moving their vehicles away from the containers, the first half of their mission was complete and the two vehicle crews stood by ready to load and move the equipment to a new location if necessary.